‘House Hunters’ calls on Hells Canyon

The casting call from “House Hunters,” a reality television show, arrived at Lewiston Realtor Heather Graffee’s office in a generic email.

Except for the picture of a property she had sold, the email might have slid underneath her radar, Graffee said.

That initial contact more than 10 months ago was the start of Graffee’s involvement in an episode of the show that debuts Feb. 1. It features her with two clients, Paul and Audra, in a remote section of Hells Canyon most easily accessible by jet boat.

The experience gave her a behind-the-scenes look into the overwhelmingly popular HGTV series, and, Graffee said, has the potential to elevate her career. Viewers who see her on the show could become new clients, she said.

“House Hunters” originated in 1999 and is one of HGTV’s network’s longest running and most successful shows, said Jennifer Horvath, an executive producer with Scott Brothers Entertainment, which makes spinoffs for “House Hunters.”

The format is unchanged since it started. Prospective buyers view three properties, then reveal which one they have selected in a dramatic climax.

“It’s such a relatable story,” said Horvath, who works for the production company founded by The Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott.

The Hells Canyon episode is part of a mini, five-episode spinoff of “House Hunters” called “Remote Retreats,” which spotlights dwellings that can only be reached by nonconventional forms of transportation, Horvath said.

Typically, “House Hunters” has plenty of real estate agents and prospective buyers for the shows from submissions through its website, Horvath said.

But finding properties, buyers and Realtors for “Remote Retreats” was more difficult, she said.

Hells Canyon and Graffee fit the specific criteria of the concept perfectly, Horvath said.

“The river is a character in and of itself,” she said.

Graffee has a firm grasp on the intricacies of the market and a great on-camera presence, Horvath said.

Initially Graffee, who has been a Realtor for almost 20 years, said she wasn’t sure if she would respond to the email, which she received in March.

“My business partner was like, ‘Are you sure?’ or ‘Is it a knockoff?’ ” said Graffee, who works at RE/MAX Rock-N-Roll Realty. “Then we dug in and spoke with them. Then I thought, ‘I love watching ‘House Hunters.’ This could be really fun.’ ”

After the email, “House Hunters” interviewed her in a recorded online video chat where she answered questions about the area.

The part of Hells Canyon in the show is on the Idaho side, upstream from the confluence of the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers. Cabin owners have to navigate numerous sets of rapids in jet boats to reach them. Properties rarely come on the market. Most families pass them down from one generation to the next.

When they do, they’re expensive, starting at about $350,000 for ones with basic amenities and rising into the millions for those with the best features, Graffee said.

After the interview, her contact with the show “said she was going to submit that to their producer and they’d get back to me to see if we made the cut,” Graffee said.

A few weeks later, Graffee got word the crews would arrive in early June to film the episode.

The crew shot footage over four days. One of the buyers, Paul, is an entrepreneur from western Washington who discovered Hells Canyon on a fishing trip. Audra is his girlfriend.

The first day, the two rode in a jet boat while the crew captured views of Hells Canyon. The other days, they were on scene at each of the three properties.

Every hour involved well-orchestrated protocols, such as replacing all the light bulbs in each cabin with ones more suitable for filming, then putting back the ones that were there when they arrived, Graffee said.

In spite of the remote locations and grueling shooting schedule, she felt pampered, she said.

Crew members always had enough power to run their equipment and supplies, like extra sunscreen and Gatorades to keep production running smoothly.

At lunch, Graffee, the buyers and the crew ate complimentary food, including a Mediterranean- style spread with vegetables and chicken.

“Everything was so delicious,” Graffee said.

The crew divided the showing of each home into short segments, each of which had to be filmed from three angles without any bloopers before they could move on to the next one.

At first, she was a little self-conscious, but the feeling of nervousness subsided after they had successfully completed about three of the first segments.

True to the “House Hunters” format, each property had strengths and drawbacks. The first one was the most opulent, with a year-round hot tub fueled by firewood. But it required lots of maintenance.

The second cabin was recently remodeled, with an open floor plan, running water from a spring and a filtration system.

But the boat parking was out of sight from the house in high water. That makes it more likely a boat would drift away and potentially strand people at the cabin, something other cabin owners in that area said happens surprisingly often even at places with better boat parking, Graffee said.

The third property was the most rustic, two small dwellings with compost toilets and a shared deck in between. But a boat was included and its maintenance costs are affordable.

Graffee confirmed the couple completed a transaction for one of the homes on the show, but can’t say which one it was until the show airs.

The show didn’t affect the negotiations between the seller and buyers for the transaction, she said.

One of the incentives for buyers and real estate agents being on the show is honorariums for the time they spend filming, Horvath said.

In Graffee’s case, she said hers was about $1,000 for the week, compared with her commission of about $20,000 on a sale of one of the mid-level homes she normally sells.

The value of the experience, Graffee said, far exceeds what she earned. Other offers are starting to trickle in for similar work, she said.

“It was kind of exhausting and fun all at once,” she said. “The people were amazing.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.